Everest: Beyond the Limit

Returning to the mountain for the second season we go deeper into the soul of the Everest experience. The climbers, a group of misfits and strangers face up to the reality of risking their lives.

Russell Brice sets his team on a five hour deadline to climb 2000 feet to the first high camp at the top of a punishing ice cliff. Two days later the expedition must climb even higher. Betsy has been allowed one last chance but is it a step too far?

The team are at 24,500 feet - higher than anywhere outside the Himalayas - but the sun is beating down and it's incredibly hot. Even the fittest climbers are struggling with dehydration and exhaustion as they try to reach Camp 2.

The training and the acclimatisation climbs are over; the expedition leaves Base Camp heading for the summit. David Tait and Phurba Tashi are within hours of the summit, but even if they make it, they're only a quarter of the way through their challenge.

As Team One set off for the summit, Tim is last out of camp and taking his time on the first leg to Camp One. When Tim eventually arrives at Camp One, Russell tears into him over the radio and threatens to throw him off the team.

Team One fight their way to Camp 4 at 27,500 inside the Death Zone where their bodies are slowly dying from lack of oxygen. As they arrive they're met with the sight of a dead climber lying in the snow.

Five miles high in the Death Zone, Team One set off for the summit at midnight in minus 30 degrees, filmed by high intensity infra-red Sherpa Cams. But before the sun rises, Tim Medvetz falls and snaps two bones in his left hand. He's in big trouble.

Summit day 2 proves exciting as asthmatic Mogens Jensen leaves Camp 4 on his fourth attempt to climb Everest. Also on his way to the top is 71-year-old Japanese climber, Katsusuke Yanagisawa, who will be the oldest person ever to summit if he makes it.